Double O Section is a blog for news and reviews of all things espionage–-movies, books, comics, TV shows, DVDs, and everything else.

Dec 7, 2012

Tradecraft: Nicolas Winding Refn to Direct The Equalizer

Well this is cool. According to Deadline, one of the hottest young directors out there, Nicolas Winding Refn, has signed on to direct the feature film version of the 80s action series The Equalizer. Denzel Washington signed on to star a year ago, although it's still unclear whether he'll be playing McCall, the role originated on TV by Edward Woodward, or a different equalizing former intelligence operative. The trade blog reports that the new movie, scripted by Richard Wenk (The Expendables 2), is only "loosely" based on the show, revealing only that Washington will play "a solitary, monastic figure who hates injustice and devotes himself to helping people who are being victimized." [UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter reports that Washington will be McCall, but they're not always reliable on such subjects.] Refn's involvement has me very excited about this. Drive was excellent, and I look forward to seeing what he does with a mainstream action franchise. (And if the 80s synth-infused soundtrack to Drive is any indication, I'd say it's likely Refn will at least retain Stewart Copeland's iconic theme music from the TV version!) The Danish director has also directed Casino Royale baddie Mads Mikkelsen in the Pusher trilogy and Valhalla Rising. Could he become the Equalizer villain as well? Washington, meanwhile, is coming off a career-best performance in Flight, and should be in fine badass form under Refn's direction. He's got some huge shoes to fill, though. It's a shame that Woodward is no longer around to make a cameo.

4 comments:

An "Equalizer" movie? Nice! Although the Ed Woodward series was pretty damn cool.By the way, great, great blog you have here, Tanner. I've added it to my favourites on mine. Man, so much to read here. Gonna take me years.Cheers!

There's only one David Callan, Simes, and perhaps only one McCall even, but is there only one Equalizer? I'm still holding out hope that Washington is playing another equalizing ex-agent in the same world. Either way, I'm open to seeing what they've got up their sleeves. And Refn seems right for the material. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

This Equalizer script is not really that close to the series. There's some mention of McCall's past as an agent, but when we meet him he is working in a hardware superstore (where the film climax takes place).

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About Me

Though I post here under the name Tanner, my real name is Matthew Bradford, and I'm a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. I'm coauthor of the graphic novel Night and Fog and I co-wrote and co-produced the 2014 horror feature Dead Within.